NASHUA, NH: The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) announced the eight inductees to the 2023 Hall of Fame. Among the eight that will be inducted is Rivier's Head Men's Volleyball Coach, Craig Kolek. This event will take place on August 10th at the Hilton Garden Inn at Logan Airport in Boston, MA.
Coach Kolek was a dual Head Coach spending 23 seasons on the sidelines of the women's volleyball team and 26 seasons on the men's side. Coach Kolek is one of the most successful coaches in GNAC and NCAA history compiling over 1000 wins. He stepped away from the women's side to pursue more administrative duties as the Associate Athletics Director and continue coaching the men's volleyball team.
For women's volleyball, he has compiled a 490-210 record with a .700-win percentage and a 214-40 GNAC record with a .843-win percentage. His teams have won six GNAC championships and have appeared in 16 of the 23 championship matches during the 1999-2021 seasons. Kolek was also named the GNAC Coach of the Year five times for women's volleyball ('03, '10, '12, '15, '21).
For men's volleyball, he has compiled a 534-254 record overall with a .678-win percentage and a 165-17 GNAC record with a .907-win percentage. Since the inception of GNAC men's volleyball in 2008, his teams have won nine GNAC championships and have appeared in 11 of the 13 GNAC championship matches during that span. Since 2008 Coach Kolek's Raiders have made one NCAA Final Four appearance, along with three NCAA Elite Eight appearances and one NCAA Regional appearance. Rivier also had a #1 in the nation ranking in 2014. Coach Kolek has been named the GNAC Coach of the Year six times for men's volleyball ('09, '13, '16, '18, '19,' 20).
Prior to men's volleyball becoming an NCAA-sponsored sport and the existence of GNAC men's volleyball, Coach Kolek and then Rivier College were members of the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA). The NECVA was the largest known single-sport conference in the United States from 1995 to 2011. It was comprised of 43 colleges and universities stretching from New Hampshire to Virginia, with Rivier being one of the most highly recognized teams in the conference for 11 of NECVA's 17 seasons of existence.
Under Coach Kolek's direction, Rivier set the bar for all New England teams to reach in both the NECVA and the nation. Over Kolek's 15 years of coaching the Raiders in the NECVA era, his teams appeared in the NECVA post-season tournament 11 straight times, which included six consecutive New England Championships (2001-2006), a NECVA Championship (2006) and a Division III Final Four appearance (2006). His teams ranged from being a two-time #1 seed in the NECVA post-season tournament to being ranked as high as 4th in the nation for Division III volleyball.
The NECVA disbanded after the announcement of the new NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship in 2012. Kolek will forever hold the record by being honored with four NECVA Coach of the Year awards ('04, '05, '06,' 09) and two NECVA New England Coach of the Year awards ('05,' 06).
In 2006 Coach Kolek became the first NECVA coach to ever win the prestigious American Volleyball Coaches Association's National Coach of the Year award. Over the final five years of NECVA, Coach Kolek also sat on the NECVA Board of Directors Committee, which governed the NECVA conference and laid the path for a Division III NCAA-sponsored Men's Volleyball Championship and a GNAC conference.
Rivier University, led by Coach Kolek, currently sits 9th all-time for the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III Top 15 Final Poll and 9th in the record books for the AVCA Times Ranked Top 15.
To view the GNAC's release, click HERE.
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